Windows Foundation Server

So Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer "revealed" today that his company will ship something called Foundation Server this year:

In today’s Strategic Update Meeting for Wall Street, Steve Ballmer spoke of a future Windows Server Family SKU, Windows Server 2008 Foundation, disclosing rough pricing and a tentative launch timing of “within a month or two.” In the presentation, Windows Server 2008 Foundation was positioned as being “akin to Netbooks at the server level.”

Of course, SuperSite for Windows readers already know about this product. Since I first reported it two months ago:

Windows Server 2008 R2 is a pretty impressive product, but then I've discussed that at length already in my Windows Server 2008 R2 Preview. But here's some news you probably haven't heard yet: Microsoft will be selling a new R2 version, called Windows Foundation Server, that it will target at emerging markets and, if it's smart, small businesses and enthusiasts. Foundation Server will support all the key Windows Server roles except for Hyper-V virtualization, and it will reportedly sell for just $200. Now that's what I call power to the people.

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"Microsoft will be selling a new R2 version, called Windows Foundation Server, that it will target at emerging markets and, if it's smart, small businesses and enthusiasts. Foundation Server will support all the key Windows Server roles except for Hyper-V virtualization, and it will reportedly sell for just $200."
Um, this doesn't make a lot of sense.
This sounds the same as Windows Server 2008 Standard without Hyper-V. Does Foundation Server have a GUI? No? Then it's the same as Windows Server 2008 Standard Core without Hyper-V.
I expect that for it to be for "emerging markets", it will likely restrict the number of installable roles at any given time, ala Windows starter editions. Also, expect the number of installable CAL's to be set at a much lower limit.
I'd also expect that it isn't 64-bit, because historically, Windows versions for emerging markets have always been limited to 32-bit. That also rules out running Exchange.

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